When you think of Siem Reap, you think of the famous Angkor Wat Temple which is one of the New 7th Wonders of the World. Today I wanted to share some photos I took while I was exploring this beautiful temple. I was a little annoyed with myself when I got home and looked through the photos because after breakfast at Angkor Wat the settings on my camera had changed without me knowing so 3/4 of my photos at Angkor Wat and all the temples I visited afterwards ended up looking like they were taken on a 2005 mobile phone ðŸ˜. But I don't want to wallow on something so first world 😋, so glad to have the few photos that turned out good and more importantly having had the opportunity to have the experience.
Booking the Temple Tour
As I said in my last Travel Diaries Post, we ended up booking the same Tuk Tuk driver for the full temple tour. You will notice a lot of the time when you ride in a Tuk Tuk the driver will ask you what you are doing the next day or if you want to visit the temples as this is one of the biggest fairs they get. I was glad have booked my tour with our driver Vanna because of how nice he was, the full fair for the ride was $28 USD. We booked to start the tour at sunrise so he picked us up from our hotel at 4:45am and our day started! You don't need to start at sunrise but I figured that would probably be less crowded.
We arrived at the ticket office at 4:55am and waited till 5am for the ticket box to open. I didn't expect so many people there so early but the line moved quick so It was no problem. Tickets were a whopping $37 USD each for a one day pass but it was our biggest tourist event we did so It was well worth it.
When we arrived our tuk tuk driver Vanna gave us a walkie talkie so we could contact him when we were done and ready to move onto the next temple, how nice is that ^_^.
While we were walking in the temple a young man approached us to let us know if we were interested in breakfast after we finished walking around we should check out his family's stall located on the temple. He said remember Number 7 and his name was John. We let him know we will keep that in mind when we finished off~
The site was really big we didn't have any plan of action so we just walked around and took it all in.
What to bring & what to wear.
Another thing to note is what to wear and what not to wear when you are in the temple. For women you should wear long pants or long dress/skirt to cover your knees and wear something to cover your shoulder. The only long clothing I had was a dress but I made sure to bring a t-shirt with me that I could put on once I arrived. For men It is similar, long pants or shorts that cover the knees and no singlet tops. Be sure to bring a backpack with plenty of water and sunscreen to apply as it approaches mid day.
Bakan
As we were walking around we ran into a long line for people waiting to go in the Bakan which is the upper terrace of Angkor Wat. They are very strict on what you wear if you are to go up there, they will not allow you to enter at all if you have shorts or have your shoulder showing.
The details carved on the walls and door trimming is so incredible.
↓ Apsara carvings, female spirit of the clouds and waters at Angkor Wat // At Bayon Temple
Breakfast at Angkor Wat
As we walked back out the temple to look for the stalls for breakfast. We saw in the far off distances John running up to us waving and smiling, I was shocked out of all the people he remember and spotted us from so far away. He ran up to us and asked if we were ready for breakfast and also to show us an amazing spot to take photos in front of the river. He was so kind and took some photos of my boyfriend and I so we could both be in it. Afterwards we settle down to have breakfast at his family's stall, No. 7.
↑ He turned on the fan for us by connecting it to a battery box, which I thought was funny. That's the back of John right there with the blue and white shirt.
I got the banana pancake with a freshly squeezed OJ.
I know a lot of people might feel that people there are only nice because they want something from you or they want you to buy something from them but I could really feel that his kindness was genuine. I was more than happy to eat at his family's stall since I was going to eat at one of the stall anyways. While we were leaving Angkor Wat he made a effort to stop us just to say Bye, when he really didn't have to. If I were to go back to Siem Reap, I would love to go back to Angkor Wat just to stop by his family stall and say hi to him.
The few photos that were salvageable from the rest of our temple tour!
↑ Bayon Temple was one of my favourites, can you see the faces.
Even though it was already a little busy at sunrise it was nothing compared to when 10am~12pm hit, a lot of the big tour groups arrive which is when it get really crowded. So I would recommend going early for that reason also it's not as hot!
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